Trade in Tacoma for an EV Truck?

Additionally, The charging infrastructure - including commercial charge points NOT related to a manufacturer and usable by any EV is growing and improving... Charging in most traveled areas is no longer an issue with some exceptions... Charging time are shortening and batteries are still improving.

There are even towable batteries available now in case you need to drive a looong way... (Ever carry spare fuel cans?) Nikola is addressing the long range / no charge-downtime issue with the hydrogen fuel cell and battery combo.

These are the early days in the tech curve - it is unreasonable to expect perfection. The current state is great for MOST people's (non specialized) uses...

 

Fine. Show us the research that says that the cradle-to grave environmental impact of an EV is worse than an ICE.

 

Well...not just the EV, but the "renewable" industry as a whole. I'm all for it - free is free and what's good for the environment is, well, GOOD. But, the truth is, the mean, green, planeteers and climate warriors are way off the mark as far as sustainability and "green" is concerned. Solar panels (for now) are a band-aid, not a cure due to the high content of toxic materials that don't break down when discarded. More rechargeable on the grid=more power consumption from plants powered by what? For the most part - coal (no es bueno). Lithium is literally RAPING the ground to mine and produce it and 99.99% of the production of it requires fossil fuels. Then there's the waste product at end-of-life. Yes, there's recycling, but (broken record) for now, only about 2-3% is recycled. That's 95% waste, given a margin of error (no es bueno either). Metals like cobalt are highly toxic (pretty much everything we use has some kind if toxic something in it, anyway). The ICE, especially the newer iterations, is more and more efficient as time goes on. Not to mention, the majority of it is made of recyclable materials like iron, steel, aluminum. Fossil fuels have exponentially more uses just in plastics and lubricants alone. Lithium makes batteries and psychotropics - that's it. Even lithium grease is a miniscule percentage of the lubricant industry. Nearly everything in our lives is a by-product of fossil fuel. Not so much with exotic metals like lithium & cobalt. Not trying to change your mind - just giving you the other side of the argument. Check out this video. Though it's not primarily about EVs, it covers most of the renewable energy pitfalls. We'll get there eventually I hope, but for now, it's just too close to its' infancy.

https://youtu.be/lL6uB1z95gA

 

X2

The Rivian and the Badger look okay, but the Cybertruck is ugly; Looks like a Delorean and KITT from Knight Rider had a one-night stand and the Cybertruck was the accidental pregnancy...

 

That pretty cool renderings (I assume). I wonder what the full scale production model will look like. I have a hard time believing that super hard material touted and sharp angles will pass any sort of pedestrian impact requirements.

 

The windows in the Tesla couldn’t even survive a public impact test!

 

Electric truck is cool, until you are overland in back country and need a charge. Then what? solar trickle charge it for a few weeks?

 

They've done lots of studies on this. Basically, the initial (negative) impact of a BEV is greater than it's ICE cousin (because of all the batteries, etc. that people have mentioned). Both have negative environmental impacts, because it takes stuff (metals & plastics) plus energy to make these cool machines!

But over its life, the BEV's running impact is (usually) less than an ICE's (the difference is very dependent on how they make the energy where you live!!!). Tesla (back before Elon went bonkers) had a really cool feature on their website (referencing DoE data), where you could easily see, depending on the state, the impact your BEV would make. For example: if you live in Oregon, where like 50% of the energy is from hydroelectric (which, I know, has it's own, different, environmental issues), the BEV's curve flattens out a lot (is less bad over time), while the ICE's keeps going negative because of...oil...BUT, if you live in West Virginia...well...don't buy a BEV (to "save the planet")...the energy is 99% from coal, which is not-so-good for the planet. If I remember right, the best states showed the ICE "passing" the BEV (for more negative impact) around the six month mark. So, it doesn't take long to make up the initial deficit created by those nasty materials if the energy you're feeding your BEV is clean!

SCIENCE!!!

 

By the time this possibly happens it should be bullet-proof.....but I agree with you and it's why I enjoy my SR5 keyed
Full electric would be the best to eliminate so many parts if it was ready for prime-time.

 

You need a bit of updating on your info on "the other side of the argument..."

Here is one point that can be quickly addressed... (not to waste too much time...)
.
- The attached graph shows the trends - I'll point out that as of Q1 2020 the purple line (Renewable energy - increasingly on its way up) has fortunately overtaken the blue line (coal -increasingly on its way down).
This event was a major milestone for the US...

(This graph needs a timeline update so that it shows these good news...)

What this means is that in the USA, the overall amount of energy produced by renewable generation is now today greater that the amount of energy produced by coal - and this trend will continue. (And the generation numbers in the graph do NOT include distributed generation which EV adopters seem to also be into.... (go figure...).

- Sometime back in 2016, Gas overtook Coal, and nuclear is today on a par with coal. Both are much cleaner power sources than coal. 300+ Coal plant closures have been announced since 2010 - and the reduction in coal generation is only accelerating... so the overall energy supply is only getting progressively cleaner...

Also, there are these 'magic' gadgets (chargers) which allow you to automatically select -in real-time, the profile of the energy that your EV uses to charge, depending on the generation mix your utility is experiencing at any point in time... so - if you really wanted, you could run your EV strictly on 100% renewable energy. - Or on 100% dirty energy should you prefer...

Absolute magic - this progress thing... There are also news on the other topics raised... but I'll stop here.

- Not trying to change your mind - just providing some factual data.

 

This is in line with what I’ve seen too. The UCS has the most compete study I’ve seen, though I’d be happy to read newer studies if people know of any.
https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/defaul...ner-Cars-from-Cradle-to-Grave-full-report.pdf

 

That is why EVs aren't for the masses (yet). They require some forethought, critical thinking, and of course, planning skills. I imagine in another decade or two even complete idiots will be able to traverse the country in an EV ;-)

 

I agree, but perhaps if pedestrian avoidance technology matures and the data shows A.I. avoidance is more effective than say, gramps and his lighting-quick reflexes, the requirements might change. Otherwise yeah, a knife edged stainless steel bumper ain't gonna cut it.

 

But it’s a throwaway rhetorical question about “twice the moving parts.” Priuses last forever and with very few issues overall. I think Toyota was super conservative and late to the game with their (currently nonexistent) hybrid truck offerings. Ford is coming out with a hybrid and a full EV somewhere in 2022-23, and I think they’ll sell a ton.

 

I'd trade a N64 for the Cybertruck...
Or trade the Cybertruck for a N64, I don't know

Looks like it is straight from a N64 game, really

 

True, maybe that's how they get around that. I disagree with your second point, a knife edged stainless steel bumper WILL cut it

 

Everybody knows that the current state of EV manufacturing, support infrastructure, and design isn't improving in anyway at all...

 

I have no plans to sell/trade anytime soon so I hope but the time I get 200k logged there will be some great choices from Toyota. I work from home so miles are sloooow to log

 

Me too. I’m on the 20 year plan with my truck, hopefully.